France arrests four in raid, says it thwarted ‘imminent attack’
Anti-terrorism forces arrested
four people Friday in southern France, including a 16-year-old girl, and
uncovered a makeshift laboratory with the explosive TATP and other ingredients
for fabricating a bomb. France’s top security official said the raid thwarted
an “imminent attack.”
A police official said the teen
had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in a recent video.
The prosecutor’s office said
around 70 grams (2.5 ounces) of TATP were seized in the Montpellier-area home
of a 20-year-old man, along with a litre each of acetone, oxygenated water and
sulfuric acid. TATP, which can be made from readily available materials, was
used in the deadly November 2015 attacks in Paris and the March 2016 attack in
Brussels carried out by Islamic State extremists.
Two other men were arrested, a
33-year-old and a 26-year-old, along with the teenage girl, according to the
prosecutor’s office, which handles terrorism investigations in France.
The police official, speaking on
condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, said one of the suspects
was believed to be planning a suicide attack but that the investigation had not
yet uncovered a specific target. He said
person in the group had tried to reach Syria in 2015 and was known to
intelligence services. The group – notably the girl – attracted new attention
with their social media postings, he said.
Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux
said the arrests in three locations in the Montpellier area “thwarted an
imminent attack on French soil.” The
country’s prime minister praised the work of anti-terror investigators.
“Faced with the heightened
threat, there has been an extremely strong mobilization of our intelligence
services to ensure the French are protected to the utmost,” said Prime Minister
Bernard Cazeneuve.
France is still under a state of
emergency after several deadly attacks in 2015 and 2016.
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